Yesterday I discovered an astonishing audio recording of a sermon, by controversial McCain endorser Pastor John Hagee, in which Hagee elaborates on his view that Hitler and the Nazis were divine agents sent by God to (with gruesome inefficiency it would seem) chase Europe's Jews towards Palestine. In his 2006 book "Jerusalem Countdown", Hagee proposed that anti-Semitism, and thus the Holocaust, was the fault of Jews themselves - the result of an age old divine curse incurred by the ancient Hebrews through worshiping idols and passed, down the ages, to all Jews now alive. In the sermon Hagee also clarifies a point, on his theological views, that has long concerned me [video inside, in full story]

[Note: Below is the original "God Sent Hitler" video, widely credited with causing presidential candidate John McCain to renounce his political endorsement from John McCain. I originally dated the John Hagee sermon from which I used an audio excerpt, featured in the video, as being from the 'Late 1990's.' But my research colleague Rachel Tabachnick subsequently discovered, after the video had received almost 160,000 views, that my original dating was incorrect; John Hagee gave the sermon in late 2005, as indicated by Hagee's reference, in the full sermon, to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The sermon appeared in a three-sermon CD set which John Hagee Ministries sold through late 2008.]

[Note: below is the actual video footage of Hagee's "God sent Hitler" claim, from his late 2005 sermon given at Cornerstone Church in San Antonion, Texas, broadcast inrternationally on Christian radio and TV networks, and also packaged as a mass-marketed consumer product. Notice pastor Hagee pantomiming a Nazi aiming a rifle at Jews.]

[note: below is my original post, from May 15th, 2008. My dating of Hagee's sermon is incorrect. Also, my understanding of Pastor's Hagee's somewhat convoluted theological views has changed considerably over the past year and a half since I wrote the following - Bruce Wilson, 11/18/2009]

I might have used any number of titles to describe this sermon by Pastor John Hagee, given in the late 1990's and then mass marketed as part of a book Hagee published in 2001 and republished in 2003, "The Battle For Jerusalem".

It could have titled it:

McCain's Hagee: God Sent Hitler, or...

Pastor Hagee says Jew Have Dead Souls. or...

Hagee says God mandates ethnic Bantustan for Jews

I think all those titles would have been valid, point being:
Hagee says a LOT of horrible things. And, Hagee and McCain have given each other mutual endorsments.

In the following audio sermon, which I have put into a video [and that includes other viciously anti-Jewish statement from John Hagee], Hagee says:

- Jews are not "spiritually alive".I have a copy of John Hagee's "Prophecy Study Bible", which makes quite clear Hagee is talking about all Jews now living - whom Hagee singles out, from among all other non-Christians on Earth, to note that they specifically do not have living souls. Indeed, Hagee says the souls of all Jews now living are dead. Dead souls. McCain endorser John hagee says Jews have dead souls.

- Hitler and the Nazis were sent by God, to chase Jews back to the land of Israel. Because that's where God intends them to be. So, the Holocaust was a gruesomely inefficient system of divine "persuasion", and Hitler and the Nazis were doing "God's work". But Hagee also depicts this divine ethnic cleansing imperative as a future project: it will happen [see bolded section of transcription, below].

- In Hagee's 2006 "Jerusalem Countdown", Hagee says anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust, were and are the fault of Jews - a divine curse for worshiping idols.

Now, some people might make the claim that John Hagee himself is not calling for the ethnic cleansing (and genocide) of Jews - he's saying God wills it...

That's a classic dodge: fact is, John Hagee is interpreting Biblical scripture and then holding up his interpretation as the "will of God" but he himself, John Hagee is constructing that "will of God" message. Hagee is projecting his own voice and his own view, his own opinion and his own hatreds through "the voice of God".

It is John Hagee himself, and others of his Christian persuasion, who choose to validate Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust by ascribing those agents and their actions to divine will. But there's little in the New Testament which supports such hate-filled Biblical exegesis.

As a final point, note that, in his February 28th public acceptance of John Hagee's political endorsement, Senator John McCain reciprocated Hagee's endorsement. McCain himself endorsed Hagee - that's especially significant given that John McCain, during the 2000 Republican Presidential primaries, called evangelists like Hagee, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson that is, "agents of intolerance". John McCain also attacked George W. Bush for visiting Bob Jones University and declared, "I would never do such a thing. John McCain called the behavior of Bob Jones "racist and cruel" and challenged Jones to "get out of the 16th Century".

Now, less than a decade later, John McCain is himself, according to his own words, retreating to the 16th by embracing such evangelical leaders; McCain needs the votes he knows those leaders can command.

To assert that any human group is somehow spiritually different from the rest of humanity is the most extreme form of racist bigotry. In the sermon recording I discovered, John Hagee does just that: Hagee clearly states his theological view that Jews are not "spiritually alive". Hence, John Hagee singles out Jews as being of a lesser order than other humans: subhuman.
In his sermon, Pastor Hagee asks how God will get Jews, whom Hagee refer to as "dry bones", to go back to the land of Israel. As an answer John Hagee cites Jeremiah 16, verses 15 and following:

Jer. 16, verses 15-18 15

"but, 'The Lord lives who brought up the Children of Israel from the kand of the north and from all the lands where he had driven them. ' For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.

16 "Behold, I will send for many fisherman," says The Lord, "and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

17 "For My eyes are on all their way; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.

18 "And first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols."

In citing Jeremiah 16, Hagee implies that God caused the Holocaust because of Jewish "iniquity" and "sin", and for filling God's "inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols."
Hagee cites Ezekiel, chapter 37, the "Dry Bones" prophecy, and Hagee states that Jews living today are at Ezekiel 37:8:

Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.

The context, of the whole prophecy, is of course highly important and here are the key parts:

11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel...

12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel...

14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.’”

- In Hagee's 2006 "Jerusalem Countdown", Hagee says anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust, were and are the fault of Jews - a divine curse for worshiping idols.
Below is a transcription of the excerpt from Hagee's sermon:

Pastor John Hagee:

"Again he said unto me “Prophesy unto these bones, and say unto them, ‘O you dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!” [Biblical reference: Ezekiel 37, New King James Version, “Dry Bones” prophecy], and he spoke to them and they stood and they became an exceeding great army - meaning they physically came to life.
Now how is God going to bring them back to the land? The answer is fishers and hunters.
The answer is given in Jeremiah 16, verse 15 and following. God says in Jeremiah 16 - “Behold I will bring them the Jewish people again unto their land that I gave unto their fathers” - that would be Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - “Behold I will send for many fishers and after will I send for many hunters. And they the hunters shall hunt them” - that will be the Jews - “from every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks.” If that doesn't describe what Hitler did in the Holocaust... you can't see that.
So think about this - I will send fishers and I will send hunters. A fisher is someone who entices you with a bait. How many of you know who Theodore Herzl was? How many of you don't have a clue who he was? WOO... Sweet God!
Theodore Herzl is the father of Zionism. He was a Jew that at the turn of the 19th century said - “this land is our land, God wants us to live there”. So he went to the Jews of Europe and said, “I want you to come and join me in the land of Israel”. So few went, Herzl went into depression. Those who came founded Israel; those who did not went through the hell of the Holocaust.
Then god sent a hunter. A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter.
And the Bible says - Jeremiah righty? - “they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the holes of the rocks”, meaning: there's no place to hide.
And that will be offensive to some people. Well, dear heart, be offended: I didn't write it. Jeremiah wrote it. It was the truth and it is the truth. How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said, “my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come BACK to the land of Israel”.
Today Israel is back in the land and they are at Ezekiel 37 and 8. They are physically alive but they're not spiritually alive.
Now how is God going to cause the Jewish people to come SPIRITUALLY alive and say, “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He is God”?"

On January 24, 2007 Christians United For Israel founder, Pastor John Hagee (CUFI), participated in a conference call with Jewish-American bloggers. The intent of the call was to familiarize the bloggers with CUFI and to assure them that CUFI's motives were benign. The following video showcases evidence demonstrating Hagee's motives were far from benign:

The initial controversy over Pastor John Hagee's highly public endorsement of Senator John McCain's presidential bid, at a nationally televised press conference viewed potentially by millions of Americans, arose when the Catholic League, a far-right Catholic defense organization headed by William Donahue, attacked the endorsement on the basis that Hagee was virulently anti-Catholic. Beyond Hagee's demonizing of Catholics and Catholicism, pastor Hagee appears radically anti-American to the extent that he hopes and expects, as evidenced by a 2006 Hagee appearance on WHYY's "Fresh Air" radio show and also in Hagee's 2006 best-seller "Jerusalem Countdown", that God will incinerate most Americans now living - with a nuclear strike on America's coastal regions. In 2006 Presidential hopeful John McCain appeared to hold a similar view on possible outcomes of a US war with Iran. In an April 2nd, 2006 appearance on Meet The Press, Senator John McCain, describing to Tim Russert McCain's view of the possible result of a US war with Iran, declared war with Iran "could be Armageddon".
Recently it has come to light that John Hagee declared "America is under the curse of God" but Hagee has also stated that, in the war he predicts will ensue a US or Israeli attack on Iran, God might punish the majority of Americans living, immolating them in a Russian nuclear strike on America's east and west coasts. Given that Hagee has repeatedly advocated for a US and/or Israeli attack on Iran, and especially in light of enthusiastic adjectives ("thrilling", for example) with which Hagee describes the expected outcome of such an attack on Iran, it logically follows that John McCain endorser Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee hopes and advocates for a US foreign policy course that he thinks might kill the majority of Americans now alive.

In a sermon given at his San Antonio, Texas Cornerstone megachurch that was telecast and available in up to ninety million homes worldwide, controversial pastor John Hagee, who has endorsed the presidential bid of Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, Jr., claimed that American public schools provide abortion services. Hagee stated, "Your daughter can get an abortion in public school without telling you but she can't get an aspirin without your approval." The pastor also claimed that public school teachers can force their students to study a "precursor to witchcraft" and suggests that America has invited "satan" and demonic spirits into its public school systems by failing to display the Ten Commandments on classroom walls. Presidential hopeful John McCain, Jr. has said he is "glad to have" Hagee's support and "admires" the leadership of the Texas pastor - who has declared God has cursed and doomed America.

"As a nation, America is under the curse of God, even now." That ominous slam at America came from Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement Republican presidential candidate John McCain sought, secured, and recently affirmed to ABC News that he is "glad to have." Hagee claims God's "curse" and "doom" is upon America because of two key issues: reproductive freedom and broad support for the teaching of the theory of evolution.

Although Senator McCain recently told George Stephanopoulos in an interview that his seeking of Hagee's endorsement was "probably" a mistake, he then doubled back to affirm his approval of Hagee's endorsement, stating, "I'm glad to have it."

If McCain did not know of Hagee's belief that God is against America, he should have: Hagee's pronouncement of God's "curse" and "doom" on our nation was not a passing comment. It was a major theme of Hagee's book, Day of Deception (1997). In fact, Hagee devotes a whole chapter to it. Here's the curse and doom quote in context:

In "America Under a Curse," a seventeen page chapter in Day of Deception, John Hagee wrote, "As a nation, America is under the curse of God, even now. Look at the scriptures and see for yourself. The stand we have taken on abortion, the stand we have taken against God in our classrooms, just may have sealed or doom."

Congratulations on being quoted in the mainstream media, but the article doesn't represent the contents of the speech very well. Anyone who is truly interested in understanding the flaws in Hagee's theology should talk to an apolitical religious Rabbi. As a committed Jew, I know Hagee is fundamentally wrong about some basic theological issues, while simultaneously accepting and appreciating his support of Israel. I am not bothered or offended by the suggestion that he or his parishioners think we are not accepted into his Heaven. I would expect that devout Catholics probably feel the same way about his statements about the Church.

The audio says no such thing. He does say "they're not spiritually alive," which a fair Christian fundamentalist assessment of the State of Israel, which is modern, democratic and secular.

Hagee: God Sent Hitler

In context, Hagee said "How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen." That again is a reasonable theological supposition. Actually, it's almost a required supposition for someone who believes in an omnipotent God.

But Hagee's imagery from the Book of Ezekiel (the valley of dry bones), would seem to imply "dead" rather than "inert."

As for "God sent Hitler," that is exactly what Hagee said - "Then God sent a hunter. Hitler was a hunter."

You're correct that belief in divine omnipotence requires belief that God allowed Hitler and the Holocaust to occur but Hagee goes farther - he says the hunters will come again, to persecute and kill Jews who do not move to Israel. That's not theodicy - it's hatred posing as theology.

As for my use of "Bantustan," I'm sticking by it. If Jews cannot live anywhere on Earth except in Israel, it's comparable to a South African Bantustan.

And claims, from some Christians, that Jews don't have souls, that Jewish souls are tainted, inert or "not alive", are regarded by many authorities on anti-Semitism as one of the historic fonts of anti-Jewish animosity which fed hatreds culminating in pogroms, persecution and the Holocaust.

My wife is an Askhenazi Jew, on both sides of the family, whose extended family in Europe was almost all wiped out. Few were able to escape.

The audio says no such thing. He does say "they're not spiritually alive," which a fair Christian fundamentalist assessment of the State of Israel, which is modern, democratic and secular. Garry, Commission Ritual.

Same as here . But one thing. I really do not belive the expression " Because God allowed it to happen." Thats just a very usual claim and answer !!
FunbyoyunonWed Sep 30, 2009 at 11:35:13 AM ESTParent

Not even close. He says that they are spiritually dead. This is the normal lexicon of revival preachers. Anybody who is not "on fire for the Lord" is said to be 'spiritually dead'. Anybody who does not have 'a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ" is said to be 'spiritually dead'.

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